Badly pitted and reblued Finn 91

[Evil Eddy 1B]

Hello y'all I have this awesome habit of buying rifles that are usually too fugly or not the plain Jane. I have had this 1944 Finnish VKT M91 for some time and have always wondered what correct date for receiver would be as u will see in photos my curiosity. It does not have a grease hole for barrel removal.Then I get to type of wood, most probably Artic Birch not a big deal I'm happy regardless but finger grooves are real shallow and it doesn't strike me that the Finn's would let that slide ,it also has a rippled feel to the wood at splice point ,it does have crossed cannons stock maker's mark of a 6 along with AV9770 boxed. Also us it common to have sling hangars welded where wire meets form where bolt attaches it to itself, it can be removed as normal, thank u for your thoughts!!! Hope it's not to heavy on pictures.

[Evil Eddy 1B]

Round two a couple more pictures to share.

[M39 Shooter]

Looks like a 1900 or 1901 that laid out over the winter along side it`s former owner. Sometimes, when a receiver is badly pitted in one area or side it could be blood pitting. How`s the bore ? Stock & sling hangers look legit to me.

[Evil Eddy 1B]

The bore looks great to me . I thought about blood pitting but I know that is kinda of a sticky subject to get into it looks like it would have been in a bucket , it is thru out the receiver. So does it look like a Izshvek ,Tula or? I tried turning picture over and I am looking into the clouds of my mind trying to figure it out , it really doesn't matter that much but it is interesting to know.

[RazorBurn]

Looks like a 1941 to me. That's a nice looking VKT M91 if you ask me.

We need better pictures of it from outside in the shade. That would make it easier to tell it's true colors. That could just be good old rearsenal bluing on it. I have a Finn'd 1915 Westinghouse that looks pretty close to new, and I'm sure it was a fresh rearsenal job.

[Longcolt44]

Everything looks fine to me. The poor receiver is a transplant from an earlier rifle that lay in the snow for a long while before being recycled to make this rifle.

[Junk Yard Dog]

These rifles saw a lot of ugly shit, decades of it, war after war, pitting like that is expected. Nice rifle.

[Evil Eddy 1B]

Thanks and I will focus on taking better pictures and get them properly observed in daytime in shade it is supposed to be cloudy tomorrow.

[zeebill]

Very well pitted reused receivers are common to many Finnish rebuilt rifles. The sling swivels are normal as ever the way they are made. Finnish made barrel with matched up assembly numbers on the bottom, that's the matching 017 numbers on the bottom of the barrel and the receiver. The AV numbers identify the Finnish assembly point on the stock. the edges of the finger grooves are sharp but wander a bit which may be common for a wood worker just starting out making stocks. Hence also the ridging you mention. I have a remade stock marked with a number 2 on a Carcano short rifle with SA markings and it looks like it may have been made by me (I can't drive a nail straight) and I have always attributed it to a beginning wood worker. Many Finnish workers made high quality work but there are always the guys or maybe girls who filled holes in the assembly line and did the best they could. That is a very well used and maybe reblued receiver with a new Finnish barrel mounted at a Finnish assembly point with a remade or new stock fitted around it. If they are carefully assembled and shot they can be real head turners at the range! Good Luck and let us know what you think after a safety check and a range trip. Bill

[willyj73]

Looks like a nice VKT M91. The original rifle was probably badly pitted and the receiver was still good enough to use; hence the barrel was replace with a VKT barrel. The date appears to be a 1901 Tula. I'm pretty sure the grease holes were discontinued in 1893.

[Evil Eddy 1B]

Here are a couple more pictures in better shade but sun was still out I tried to use milk jug as a filter and it worked alright. But it still has a glare. To me all my Mosin's are awesome but to post it here and get responses from certain people's web names or handles that I have been reading for years is fantastic I'm not trying to sound like a brown noser but I am really enjoying it. One more question does the stocks grain before splice look like it would be from some other type of wood besides artic birch it kinda reminds me of what I have seen on those unissued Hungarian M44's . Thanks again!!

[Longcolt44]

It's even prettier in living color, nice.

[RazorBurn]

One more question does the stocks grain before splice look like it would be from some other type of wood besides artic birch it kinda reminds me of what I have seen on those unissued Hungarian M44's . Thanks again!!

Looks like it's just two different pieces of Arctic Birch to me.

[millman]

Looks good to me.

[qz2026]

I've seen much worse pitting. The rifle looks pretty good to me. Nice gun